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UWF Softball coach, Melissa Paul, center, gives her team one last practice on their home field Monday afternoon, May 22, 2017. The Argos are scheduled to leave for the NCAA Division II Championship in Virginia Tuesday morning. Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com

UWF's softball team gets one last practice on their home field Monday afternoon, May 22, 20017, before heading off to the NCAA Division II Softball Championship in Virginia. Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com

UWF Softball coach, Melissa Paul, left, gives her team one last practice on their home field Monday afternoon, May 22, 2017. The Argos are scheduled to leave for the NCAA Division II Championship in Virginia Tuesday morning. Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com

UWF Softball coach, Melissa Paul, right, gives her team one last practice on their home field Monday afternoon, May 22, 2017. The Argos are scheduled to leave for the NCAA Division II Championship in Virginia Tuesday morning. Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com

UWF's softball team gets one last practice on their home field Monday afternoon, May 22, 20017, before heading off to the NCAA Division II Softball Championship in Virginia. Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com

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UWF Softball coach, Melissa Paul, right, gives her team one last practice on their home field Monday afternoon, May 22, 2017. The Argos are scheduled to leave for the NCAA Division II Championship in Virginia Tuesday morning.(Photo: Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com)Buy Photo

With her players gathered, University of West Florida softball coach Melissa Paul presented some perspective.

The Argos are headed to an NCAA championship tournament. Paul wanted to ensure everyone understood that rarity.

"We can have a more talented team in the future that may not get back there," she said, prior to the team's final practice Monday night at the UWF Softball Complex before their trip. "It's an opportunity of a lifetime, and we have to take advantage of it and do the best we can."

The Argos breakthrough feat, which included winning the NCAA Division II South Regional one week ago, then winning the South Super Regional last Friday in dramatic fashion, has provided UWF this opportunity.

The team is traveling Tuesday by plane to Salem, Virginia, where they will face Armstrong State — a team located in Savannah, Georgia — in Thursday's first round game (5:30 p.m.) of the NCAA Division II Softball Championship tournament. It's an eight-team, double-elimination event with a best-of-three final series for the two bracket winners on Saturday and Sunday.

Much of the past weekend was working out the logistics to get there. The NCAA pays for Division II teams' travel when it's this kind of distance. The Argos scrambled to get seats on a pair of American Airlines flights Tuesday to Charlotte, then Roanoke, Virginia, which is a short drive from the championship site.

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UWF's softball team gets one last practice on their home field Monday afternoon, May 22, 20017, before heading off to the NCAA Division II Softball Championship in Virginia. (Photo: Tony Giberson/tgiberson@pnj.com)

Four players are one one flight. The rest of the team, coaches included, are on another flight that lands 90 minutes later. Other UWF staff are coming on a third flight later Tuesday.

"Hey, it is better than driving," Paul said, laughing. "It can always be worse. We are going to get there. We'll get back together sooner or later.

"This is part of the fun experience and getting to see a different part of the country. It is something different."

For some of the players, this will be their first time on a plane. For a couple others, it will be their first time traveling to a softball tournament by plane.

"Some of the girls are freaking out," said senior first baseman Jacey Castro, who grew up traveling from central Florida on plane trips with her travel ball team. "I'm just ready to get there. It is super exciting."

The players will be treated to a barbecue lunch Wednesday at the James Moyer Sports Complex in Salem where the tournament is being played. On Wednesday night, there is a NCAA banquet for all teams and awards presentations.

"Getting there and enjoying (Tuesday) and Wednesday will be wonderful for them, but once we wake up on Thursday it is back to business and the reason we are going up there," Paul said.

The UWF coach has prior experience. In her seven seasons as an assistant coach at the University of Missouri, the Tigers advanced three times to the Division I Women's College World Series.

"No matter the level, the challenges are the same every year," Paul said. "The challenge is to sustain that every single year. It is a good problem to have."

Want To Watch?

What: NCAA Division II Softball Championship

Who: Armstrong State Pirates (36-12) vs. UWF (45-13)

When: Thursday, 5:30 p.m. (CDT)

Where: James Moyer Sports Complex, Salem, Virginia

On Web: Live stream video broadcast through NCAA.com/

Format: Eight teams, double-elimination. Final two teams play best of three series on Saturday and Sunday.